Maureen Almond
Friday Nights
By eight o’clock they’re rounded up,
driven from the high reaches of the estate,
down into the centre.
There, they turn and turn again
between The Dun Cow and The Ketton Ox,
until finally they thread through
a narrow gap at the Cross Keys,
their breath rising like dust,
vaporising into the cold dusk.
One by one they’re picked off,
caught round the neck,
made legless,
a Hustlers all that’s needed
to remove their covering
which is hardly risen from their skin.
It’s reckoned to take forty-six moves
to get them to a stripped state,
but they’re ready for turning.
In three curved blows they’ll be done,
which just leaves the marking.
Hustler is also a light shearing comb, preferred for use earlier in the season when the fleece is short and close to the skin
Page(s) 19
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